Dead Reckoning: A Therapist Confronts His Own Grief

Dead Reckoning: A Therapist Confronts His Own Grief by Treadway, David C.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780465007288.

When David Treadway was twenty, his life was changed dramatically by one single, shattering event: his mothers suicide. The child of a prominent New England hotel family, Treadway watched numbly as his father and sister suffered mental breakdowns and his older brother retreated into alcoholism. Though barely out of his teens, David took on the role of family caretaker, burying his own grief and immersing himself in helping his family cope. This numbness lasted for twenty-seven years. Then, in the midst of a busy and successful life as a husband, father, and therapist, he realized that he was overcome by an ever-growing emotional emptiness. For so many years he had been running away from his feelings about his mother, diverting his attention with ambitious sailing excursions and working to heal clients while ignoring his own quiet despair. Though Treadway is a well-known authority in the field of alcoholism and suicide, his professional expertise did not help him resolve his own pain. Now, with this moving memoir - at turns deeply heartbreaking and tender - Treadway chronicles his arduous journey to finally come to terms with his mothers depression and suicide.